Dwelling upon Moloch’s grasp on mankind caused the following weird thought experiment to pop up in my head.

If every adult was handed a device with a big red button capable of ending humanity, how soon would someone press it?

Then I realized the answer is probably, and depressingly, “right away”. The radical millenarianists, the psychopaths, the pathologically disassociated, anyone tripping balls, plus a few edgelords cosplaying as The Joker would all compete for the title.

So a better question is: what percentage of people would press the button?

PhD in aviation ∩ climate science | Aviator, diver, ETH maxi, nexialist | Host of /diving /ethfinance /eth-staker /geopolitics /science /singapore /thomas

And how many would press it if the outcome were a reset, instead of a complete wipe out? Have you seen the film The Box, which asks a variation of this question in a different way?

There is nothing more powerful in this world than words.

It's not exactly the same question but it's a riff on the same theme, an entertaining proposition nonetheless, and a great film too. Same director as Donnie Darko.

I haven’t watched it but will look it up!